Mother

Acrid, labyrinthine, unnerving, and well-assembled with visual panache, jarring sound design, and spasmodic pacing, Mother is a deceptively simple and humorous tale with nasty flashes of violence; a slippery drama that suggests the psychological thrillers of Henri-Georges Clouzot transposed to present-day Asia; and a superb thriller that will make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.

Snowpiercer

Upscale, gruesome, long, and unapologetically messy, Snowpiercer is a $40 million futuristic epic with startling visuals, a supercharged storyline, and oddball characters that don’t always conform to their presumed parameters. A slambam, splattery shambles with a fat dose of social satire and barely a lick of sense, Snowpiercer offers an enormously fun, unhinged ride that’s worth the investment for its mixture of a great cast, batty personalities, and mad swipes at symbolism.